Blue Jays 4 - 5 Yankees
Final
  for this game

CC leads injury-depleted Yanks against Blue Jays

Apr 27, 2013 - 1:33 PM

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(Sports Network) - CC Sabathia aims to continue his success against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, but he'll have a new catcher after a tough Friday night for the New York Yankees.

Francisco Cervelli has served as the catcher for Sabathia all season, but Cervelli broke his right hand in the opener and will miss at least six weeks.

Sabathia, who will instead pitch to Austin Romine or Chris Stewart Saturday, holds a 13-4 mark with a 2.98 ERA in 18 career games against Toronto. The lefty is coming off a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay on Monday when he allowed seven hits and five runs over seven innings.

The Blue Jays counter with southpaw J.A. Happ, who is 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in three lifetime games against the Yankees. Happ didn't get a decision over six innings in a game at Baltimore on Monday.

Last night, David Phelps threw four strong innings in relief of an ailing Ivan Nova, and the Yankees overcame the Blue Jays for a 6-4 win.

Phelps (1-1) racked up a career-best nine strikeouts while limiting the Blue Jays to one run on two hits after taking over for Nova, who was removed with none out in the top of the third inning with pain in his right elbow. Mariano Rivera worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to notch his eighth save of the season.

Lyle Overbay came through with a tie-breaking RBI triple in the fourth and Brett Gardner tacked on a solo homer later on to help New York post its second straight win over slumping Toronto in the first two tests of this four-game set. Vernon Wells added a pair of hits and an RBI in three at-bats to the triumph.

The victory came with a cost, however, as Cervelli fractured his hand when being struck by a foul tip by Toronto's Rajai Davis, the game's leadoff hitter. The team said afterward that he will require surgery.

"I don't think teams are going to care if we have injuries or not, they're going to want to beat us," said Wells. "So we need to continue to go about our business. and that's playing good defense, having great starting pitching and just scoring enough runs when we need them."

Nova was charged with two runs allowed on four hits in two-plus innings.

The Blue Jays suffered their 16th defeat in their last 19 visits to Yankee Stadium despite a pair of solo homers from Edwin Encarnacion. Jose Bautista also had a solo shot in the setback, Toronto's sixth in eight outings overall. Encarnacion has homered in four straight games.

Brad Lincoln (0-1) was handed the loss after permitting two runs in one inning. Aaron Laffey, making an emergency start for an injured Josh Johnson, lasted just 2 2/3 frames and was reached for a pair of runs while walking five.

"I lost my release point and couldn't get out front and stay on top of the ball," said Laffey. "I was just kind of all over the place. It didn't matter what I did, I just wasn't able to get the ball where I wanted it to go."

The Yankees had gone 11-7 against the Jays last season and have won nine straight season series at home against them.






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